Victims of Murder
The Victims of Murder are a group of Spirits from Yomawari: Midnight Shadows who dwell in an isolated and sealed-off lot in the Second Town. Appearance They appear as black silhouettes of human beings. They are scattered around the abandoned lot, which is stained with puddles of blood. Their posture is constantly on their knees while their hands are on the ground and their heads are facing downwards. This makes it look like they are praying, worshiping, or grieving. One of these Spirits reveal to have a large mouth on its face with two rows sharp teeth. Behavior The abandoned lot is sealed off because the metal fence's door is missing its handle. To access this lot, Haru needs to pick up the Handle Key Item located outside the Empty Building. Once she has it, she can attach it to the door in order to open it to enter the abandoned lot. There are many invisible spirits scattered around the lot, so it looks like Haru needs to maneuver around them while using the flashlight to locate these spirits. However, it is a lot safer than it really seems. Not only will these Spirits remain motionless, but Haru can actually walk right through them without being harm. The real danger is the sole Spirit that is near the end of the lot. It appears to be no different from the other spirits there, but this one is actually very aggressive and very dangerous. It will pounce forward to attack Haru once she gets close to it. There are four methods in surviving the attack. The first method is to react fast enough to get Haru out of the hostile spirit's way once it attacks. This spirit can only attack once, so once Haru evades its attack successfully, the girl will be safe. However, this method is not recommended because of how difficult it is for the player to react fast enough to move Haru when the spirit attacks (especially since this spirit will attack when Haru is very close to it). The second method is for Haru to use the Trash Bag usable item as soon as the spirit attacks. Haru can get this item in the Sewers once Haru has cleared that location's main story. When Haru uses the Trash Bag, she must remain hidden inside it until all the spirits disappear. The third method is to for Haru to use Salt on the aggressive spirit. This will allow Haru to exorcise the aggressive spirit, effectively killing it. The fourth method is for Haru to just approach the end of the lot on the left or right side of the lot. The other invisible Spirits, especially the ones on the sides of the lot, create the illusion that Haru needs to walk in the center of the lot in order to stay safe. But in reality, Haru can just walk through the motionless Spirits. So, she can just stay at the side. By using the third method, Haru will be on the side of the aggressive Spirit when she approaches it. Since the Spirit can only attack by pouncing forward, Haru easily avoids its attack as long as she isn't in front of it. Once Haru is safe, she can get the collectible item called the Straw Hat at the end of the lot. Mythology and Theories There is a newspaper in the Library that talks about a cruel case where a criminal would kidnap a person and cut off their foot. This information suggests that these Spirits are in fact murdered victims of the kidnapper who cut off his victim's feet. This would explain why the Spirits appear to be kneeling and normally motionless, since they are unable to stand and walk around as a result of having their feet cut off when they were alive. This connection is further supported by the newspaper's crime scene photos, which should the crime having taken place in an area where there are fences and woods. The area where the Spirits are dwelling is surrounded by trees and blocked off by a metal fence. The passive Spirits, who remain in place, may be murdered victims who were just filled with fear and sorrow when they were killed. Since they weren't filled with anger, they aren't as actively aggressive to people as the aggressive Spirit and just remain on their spot harmlessly. Since they aren't hostile, Haru can even walk right through them safely. The Straw Hat collectible item may have either belonged to the aggressive Spirit who was kidnapped and murdered, or belonged to the kidnapper responsible for cutting of his kidnapped victims and supposedly murdering them. Both possibilities are supported by the fact that the hat was on a dried up puddle of blood, thought the hat itself is clean from blood (despite being saggy). As for the reason the fence is blocked by having its Handle removed & thrown away may be either because the police wants to prevent anyone from visiting a dangerous past crime scene (especially if the killer may return there) or because the killer wanted to prevent detectives and police from investigation the crime scene any further. If it is the latter, it is possible that the killer dropped it near the Empty Building by complete accident. It may have happened from fleeing from the police, or fleeing from the Haunted House when he tried breaking in it to find his next victim (only to find out its haunted, and proceed to run away with his life). The Aggressive Spirit Theories The aggressive Spirit who attacks Haru may have been two possible people. The first suspect is that they might be a murdered victim who was filled with hatred for his murderer as he died, resulting in becoming a malicious spirit that kills anyone who gets near him because he thinks that person may be his killer. In addition, since this Spirit had lost its feet, he resorts to lapping at his target when they get close enough to him in order to successfully kill the intruder. This explains why he is only able to attack by lapping when Haru gets too close to it, and explains why he is only able to attack once. The second suspect is that they might be the spirit of the murderer who have kidnapped and murdered the other people here. If that was the case, then the reason why he is the only spirit there that would attack people is because he is actually the ghost of a bloodthirsty killer. It also helps explain how this spirit can be exorcised by Salt, as salt is used to exorcise some evil spirits. It is possible that his feet weren't cut off when he died and he isn't paralyzed by fear like the victims' spirits. The spirit must likely pretended to be the spirit of a feet-less victim in order to have people drop their guard before killing them once they get to close to him. The alternative possibility is connected to the idea that he sealed off the fence by breaking off the Handle, but lost it while fleeing through the Empty Building from either the police or the Haunted House. Since he couldn't get back inside the lot as a result of losing the fence's handle, he tried to climb down into the lot from a top of the stone wall (which is located at the end of the lot). He must have slipped during his descend, and ended up breaking his legs when he fell. As a result, he was trapped in the lot with no means of escaping due to his broken legs. In addition, there would be nobody to save him since ordinary people would avoid the lot (because it is a crime scene for torture and murder) and nobody could even enter the lot due to the door losing its handle. This led to the killer dying from either blood-lost from his broken legs, starvation, or thirst. This idea would explain why the killer is dead and became an aggressive ghost. It would also explain why he can't stand like his victims' ghosts (causing him to be stuck kneeling). But since he is so aggressive as a spirit, despite his broken legs, he would try to attack people by pouncing forward. Gallery Victims of Murder 1.jpg|A motionless spirit. Victims of Murder 2.jpg|A hostile spirit. Category:Spirits Category:Midnight Shadows: Spirits